Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett nears the halfway mark in its run with Wednesday's third Episode of the season, The Streets of Mos Espa. We spend much more time in the "present day" than in flashbacks in this episode, but it still delivers some truly gasp-worthy moments.

The bone-white service droid 8D8, seen in Return of the Jedi (1983) as the torture droid, catches us up on which factions control what territories around the bustling Tatooine town of Mos Espa. It's a good bit of exposition, giving us a better idea of the challenges Fett faces in uniting the territory under his rule. Fett goes on to recruit a band of teenagers on shiny and colorful mini-bikes to help him cover the territory.

In the lone flashback sequence, we see Fett riding upon a Bantha, the preferred mode of transportation among the Tusken Raiders. Fett has clearly risen to a point of leadership within the tribe after being taken captive back in the season debut. He rides his mount into the familiar city of Mos Eisley, where he confronts the Pyke Syndicate on its raids against the Tuskens. Fett offers the Pykes protection, but the Pykes claim they are already paying another gang for protection. This turns out to be the same gang that pillaged a moisture farm, as witnessed by Fett and the Tusken child, earlier in the season.

For purposes of this post, let's call them the JL gang, after the symbol they leave at the site of their attacks.

The first shock of this episode occurs next, as Fett returns to the Tusken camp only to see it laid to waste, burning with all of the resident raiders slaughtered. This scene hits so much differently now that we've seen the Tuskens from more angles than the films showed. They are far from the vicious, mindless monsters Cliegg Lars characterized them to be back in Attack of the Clones (2002). Fett respectfully creates a funeral pyre for the dead raiders, while showing tormented emotion on his face. 

The JL symbol is found at the decimated tribe site, putting them on the list to await vengeance by Fett at some point.

We are pulled hastily out of the flashback and straight into a fight scene between Fett and Black Krrsantan, the monstrous black-haired Wookiee seen in Star Wars comics as well as last week's episode. Fett, nearly naked and barely conscious from his stint in the bacta tank, gets it handed to him even after the teenage swoop gang comes in to help. It's only when Fennec Shand, Fett's partner, helps deliver the Wookiee into the rancor put, does Fett escape serious injury or death. 

I am still skeptical of Shand's ultimate allegiance. Her absence in a prior scene comes right before Black Krrsantan attacks Fett deep within Jabba's Palace. How did he get such easy access to Fett? If this series really is adhering to tropes seen in The Godfather, I am looking squarely at Shand to betray Fett at some point in this series.

The twin Hutts arrive shortly thereafter and agree on some version of a truce with Fett. Black Krrsantan is set free, though I suspect this won't be the last we see of this brutal Wookiee. As tribute, the Hutts present Fett with his own rancor. A new rancor keeper, played by Danny Trejo, helps bond Fett to the new rancor.

The episode concludes with a rather slow-speed chase through the streets of Mos Espa (hence the episode titles) between the mayor's majordomo and the teenage swoop gang. The majordomo is stopped in defense of the mayor, who has apparently fled the area, leading Fett to inch closer to an all-out war for the territory in this part of the desert planet.

There are a ton of cameos in this episode ranging across all parts of the Star Wars saga. Another shot of Kamino, with young Daniel Logan seen playing Boba Fett as shown in Attack of the Clones, during one of Fett's bacta-induced dreams. We've seen this flashback in all three episodes, so I am curious where this thread will lead.

Stormtrooper helmets are seen being placed on pikes in Mos Eisley, with The Mandalorian's Peli Motto walking with her trusty pit droids in tow, in the background. A Ralph McQuarrie concept painting of Jabba's court is busted during the street speeder chase. The vehicle driven by the mayor's majordomo is the same model used by Han Solo to escape the White Worms in the opening teaser of Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018). 

This felt more like a bridge episode to me. We will hit the halfway mark in this series in the middle of next week's episode. I am loving this journey so far into the fleshing out of one of Star Wars' most popular characters.